Coupler clamp and hold-down apparatus for car dumpers



I Nov. 26, 1957 A. G. HAGUE 2,814,400

COUPLER CLAMP AND HOLD-DOWN APPARATUS FOR CAR DUMPERS Filed Feb. 11, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 A. e. HAGUE Noy. 26, 1957 COUPLER CLAMP AND HOLD-DOWN APPARATUS FOR CAR DUMPERS Filed Feb. 11, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 (Ill/,4,

United Etates Parent COUPLER CLAMP AND HOLD-DOWN APPARATUS FOR CAR DUMPERS Alfred G. Hague, Des Moines, Iowa, assignor to Straight Engineering Company Inc., Adel, Iowa, a cnrperation of owa Application February 11, 1954, Serial No. 409,713

6 Claims. (Cl. 214-55) This invention relates to improvement in that type of apparatus adapted to unload railway box cars of readily flowing bulk materials, such as soybeans, wheat, shelled corn and other bulk materials, by first removing the grain doors mounted in the sides of the car, then tilting the car transversely relative to its longitudinal axis with the floor of the car substantially at an inclination of 15 to the horizontal, to permit a portion of the load to flow sidewise to a suitable receptacle by gravity after which the body of the car is rocked about a central transverse axis substantially to an angle of 40 to the horizontal to cause the contents of the car to flow alternately toward the door and into said receptacle.

In the actual operation of this type of car dumper I find that it is necessary to repeat the number of rocking operations in order to completely empty the car, due to the fact that the transverse tilting movement ,of 15 is not sufiicient to cause all of the material to flow to the open door.

To accomplish this tilting of the car body in actual practice the car supporting tracks are tilted transversely to an inclination of substantially 15 to the horizontal, which is about the most that it can be tilted and at the same time maintain the center of gravity of the car and its load in a vertical plane between the car supporting rails to prevent the car from being over-balanced by the wind and gravity.

An object of my invention is to provide means whereby the transverse inclination of the car floor may be increased to permit a greater percentage of the material being emptied to flow transversely to the car door and at the same time hold the car to its tracks when the car is in said increased inclined position.

It is therefore the object of my invention to provide in apparatus for dumping railway box cars by tilting the car both transversely and longitudinally; improved means for locking the car against both longitudinal and transverse movement relative to its supporting tracks when in said tilted positions.

More specifically it is the object of my invention to provide in that type of clamp apparatus for box car dumpers employing horizontally movable clamp supporting frames to engage the free ends of the car couplers, to lock the car against longitudinal movement; hold-down means adapted to engage the top of the coupler to lock the car against transverse tilting movement relative to its supporting tracks, and in connection therewith, novel means for applying a portion of the force required to actuate said frame may be applied to actuate said holddown means.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of the apparatus, whereby the objects contemplated and attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a' rear endelevation of my improved car clamp apparatus for car dumpers.

Fig. 2 is a plan view. of the-same.-

Fig. 3 is a section side elevation taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an elevational view of the front end of my improved clamp apparatus.

Fig. 5 illustrates the manner in which my improved clamp apparatus is applied to a car supporting cradle and the car coupler with the cradle and car in their transverse inclined position.

Fig. 6 illustrates the manner that the car clamp apparatus is mounted in its normal inoperative position.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged elevational view of the hold-down element, showing the manner that it is applied to the upper surface of the coupler head, the upper end of the knuckle head, the outer end of the guard arm, and the manner it is mounted in its supporting beam.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged detail sectional view taken on the line 88 of Fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is a sectional view taken on the line 99 of Fig. 7.

Figs. 10 and 11 are enlarged plan views of the upper end of the clamp head showing the manner the coupler elements are moved to proper alignmenttherein.

Fig. 12 is a sectional diagrammatic view illustrating the manner in which the coupler head is caused to swing to its limit of movement to one side of its supporting pocket and the manner in which the pocket is also moved laterally from its normal line of draft.

The construction and operation of myinvention is as follows: The primary supporting frame 10 comprises a pair of spaced and parallel beams 12 having their rear ends 13 connected by a transverse beam 14 and their forward ends connected by a transverse beam 16 and a transverse plate 17. The forward end of each beam 12 having a bearing 18. The outer end of each beam 12 is provided with a bearing 19, each supporting a shaft 21 provided with a flanged wheel 22.

The rear end of each beam 12 is provided with an upright channel 23, said channels having their upper ends inclined inwardly toward each other as illustrated in Fig. 1, said upper ends being connected by a draft beam 24 having its ends terminating in pins 26, said pins 26 being mounted in the rear and upper end of a brace beam 27 having its opposite end fixed to the forward end of a corresponding beam 12 as clearly illustrated in Fig. 3.

Fixed to and mounted between the upper ends of the channels 23 I have provided what I shall term a clamp head 28. Said clamp comprising substantially an upright plate having one edge 29 fixed to the forward edge of one of the chanenls 23, thence inclined inwardly and rearwardly to a curved portion 31 connecting a transverse portion, or contact 32, terminating in a forwardly and outwardly inclined portion 36 having one edge fixed to the forward edge of the channel 23, with the rear face of the portion 32 resting against the central portion of the draft bar 24. The head 28 is mounted at such height as to be in horizontal alignment with the coupler elements of the type D car coupler 86 when in operative position.

The secondary frame 11 comprises a pair of spaced and horizontally arranged lever arms 37 at their forward ends provided with downwardly eXtending arms 38, each having its lower end provided with a bearing 39, the upper ends of the arm 39 are rigidly connected by a tubular member 41 supporting a shaft 42 having its end mounted in the bearings 18, which serves as a fulcrum for the secondary frame 11. Each of the bearings 39 is provided with a shaft 43, said shafts having their outer ends provided with flanged wheels 44 and their inner ends mounted in a T head 46, said head having a screw threaded portion 47 for receiving the main operating screw 48. A bracket 49 connects the arms 11 near'their rear ends and is provided with upwardly and inwardly inclined portions 51 terminating in a horizontal portion 52 supported by the upper end of an expansion spring 53 the lower end of which rests on the control portion of the plate 17 for the purpose hereinafter made clear.

The upper ends of the inner faces of the members 23 are each provided with a guide plate 54 (see Fig. 10) adapted to slidably support a slide bar 56. The lower end of each slide bar 56 is pivotally connected to the upper end of a link 57, the lower end of each link 57 being pivotally connected to the rear end of a corresponding lever arm 37 as clearly seen in Fig. 3. The upper ends of the links 56 are attached to a cross bar 58 having at its central portion an enlarged portion 59 provided with an opening 61 slidably supporting a pin 62 having at its lower end a ball 63. The pin 62 being held against downward movement by a collar 64 mounted on the upper end of the contracted portion 66. The contracted portion 66 is provided with a spring 67 the lower end of which rests on the shoulder 68 with its top end supporting the bushing 69.

The ball 63 is mounted in a socket 71 formed in the hold-down bracket or element 72, the under surface of said bracket being provided with three contact points 74, 75, and 76. The bar 58 is mounted above the upper end of the clamp head 28 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 with the hold-down 72 slidably mounted between the wall portions 31 and 36 of the member 28 with one edge of the member 72 provided with a lug 73 engaging the wall 31 and another corner of the member 72 engaging the wall portion 34 to prevent rotation of the member 72 about its vertical axis.

The wheels 22. and 44 are adapted to travel between tracks 77 and 78 mounted on the inner faces of the side walls 81 of the cradle 82 (see Figs. and 6). Track members 80 are provided on the walls 83 of the pit 84 for supporting the clamp apparatus when in its normal inoperative position.

The operation of my improved car clamping apparatus is as follows; assuming that the clamp apparatus is in its normal position in the pit 84 as shown in Fig. 6 and that rotation is being applied to the screw threaded shaft 48 by means of a motor not shown, which forms no part of this invention, the wheels 22 and 44 will be drawn to position between the tracks 77 and 78 with the head 28 in substantial alignment with the car coupler 86. The coupler 86 including a pivoted knuckle 87, a guard arm 88 and the lift pin supporting portion 89. The knuckle 87 is usually in its open position as shown inFig. 10. As the clamp apparatus is advanced the inclined walls 30 and 31 will engage the free end of the knuckle 87 causing it to move .to its closed position as shown in Fig. 11 with the knuckle firmly against the wall 32.

The hold-down beam 72 being held above the coupler, thus so far, by means of the spring 53, however, as the rotation of the screw 48 is continued with the frame locked against further movement, on account of the clamp head engaging the coupler, the shaft 42 will serve as a fulcrum for frame 11 with the lower ends of the members 38 being drawn forwardly and the rear ends of the memhere 37 lowered against the resiliency of the spring 53, the member 72 will then be lowered until the contact points 74, 75 and 76 engage the portions 87, 89 and 88 of the coupler respectively, thus applying downward pressure to the top of the coupler head 86 to hold the car to which the coupler is attached to its tracks, when the tracks and their supporting cradle are in their inclined positions as shown in Fig. 5. The pivotal connection between member 72 and the coupler 86 provides means whereby the downward pressure between. the said members will be equalized. The vertical movement of the member 72 also provides for accommodating car couplers of various heights.

After the member 72 has contacted the coupler 86, further downward pressure on the bar 58 will cause the spring 67 to yield permitting the pin 66 to move upward- 1y relative to the bar 58 and to engage the limit: switch 90 which is included in the electric circuit operating the said motor, not shown, for driving the screw 48.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided means for locking the car against longitudinal movement on its tracks and also provide means for applying a portion of the operating force transmitted to the shaft 48 to the upper face of the car coupler, the relative amount of pressure so applied being substantially in proportion to the ratio of the length of the arm 37 to the length of the arm 38, minus the force required to compress the spring 53. The force necessary to keep the car balanced on its tracks being very much less than that necessary to lock the car against longitudinal movement when the car is in a longitudinal tilted position of about 40 relative to the horizontal.

By referring to Fig. 12 it will be seen that the transverse center A of the head 28 is slightly to one side of the longitudinal center B of the supporting frames 10 and 11, or toward the upper side of the frames when in their transverse inclined position, as shown in Fig. 5.

Referring to Fig. 12, the dotted lines illustrate the coupler head 86 and its supporting pocket 97 in its normal inoperative position. As the clamp head 28, shown in dotted lines, is moved toward the coupler and its knuckle 87 the inclined flange 28 will first move the knuckle 87 laterally to closed position, then swing the free end of the head 86 to the solid line position with the shank engaging the shoulder 96 of the pocket 97, further movement of the head 28 will apply lateral pressure to prevent transverse movement of the pocket 97 and its supporting car from sliding on its axles by gravity after the car has been tilted to its angle of repose, due to play between the wheel hubs and the axle bearings.

I claim:

1. The combination of a car supporting and tilting cradle mounted to rock in its longitudinal and vertical plane and tilt transversely thereof and adapted to support a railway box car, supporting at each end a standard D type coupler, a clamp element movably mounted on each end of said cradle to move forward and from said coupler elements to engage and disengage their free ends, draft means for simultaneously moving said clamps toward each other to engage the free ends of said couplers, a holddown element mounted to move vertically on each of said clamps to engage the upper surface of its corresponding coupler element, and means actuated by said draft means for applying a portion of its actuating force to said holddown. element to apply downward movement and pressure thereto.

2. The combination of a car supporting and tilting cradle mounted to rock in its vertical longitudinal plane and tilt transversely thereof and adapted to support a railway box car, supporting at each end a standard D" type coupler, a clamp element movably mounted on each end of said cradle to move toward and from said coupler elements, to engage and disengage their free ends, draft means for simultaneously moving said clamps toward and from each other to engage the free ends of said couplers, a hold-down element mounted to move vertically on each of said clamps to engage the upper surface of its corre sponding coupler element, and means carried by said element for applying downward movement and pressure to the top surface of said coupler elements.

3. The combination of a car supporting and tilting cradle for a railway box car supporting at each end a standard D type coupler element, means for locking 2. car supported on said cradle against longitudinal movement on said cradle, said means comprising a horizontally movable frame having at one end an upright clamp, having one face of its upper end adapted to engage the free end of a coupler element, a hold-down element slidably mounted on the upper end of said upright clamp support to engage the top surface of a coupler as it is moved downwardly, a second frame including a horizontal lever portion and a downwardly extending portion,

means pivotally connecting the junction of the horizontal and downwardly extending portion of said second frame to the other end of the first frame, with one end of the second frame terminating near the upright clamp, downwardly projecting links carried by said hold-down element having their lower ends pivotally connected to said'one of said second frame, yieldable means carried by the first frame maintaining the hold-down element in an elevated position, and means for applying horizontal draft to the lower ends of the downwardly extending ends of said second frame.

4. The combination of a car supporting and tilting cradle mounted to rock in its vertical longitudinal plane and tilt transversely thereof and adapted to support a railway box car supporting at each end a standard D type coupler, a primary clamp supporting frame, having at one end upright clamp supporting members, movably mounted in said cradle near each of its ends, draft means for simultaneously moving said frames toward and from each other, a second frame including a horizontal portion and a downwardly extending portion, means pivotally connecting the junction of the horizontal and downwardly extending portion of said second frame to the other end of the first frame with the end of the second frame terminating near the upright clamp support, a clamp head supported by the upper ends of said upright clamp supporting members including a vertical and concaved contact face adapted to engage the free end of a corresponding coupler element, a transverse beam slidably mounted on said upright support-s to move toward and from the upper surface of said coupler, a hold-down element mounted to move vertically toward and from said beam and mounted to permit limited universal tilting movement, means yieldably maintaining the hold-down against upward movement, means operatively connecting the said one end of the horizontal portion of said second frame to said beam, means for operatively connecting said draft means to the lower ends of said downwardly extending portions of said second frame, yieldable means carried by the primary frame for maintaining the movable end of the second frame in an elevated position and means actuated by the downward movement of said beam relative to said hold-down element for actuating a limit switch.

5. The combination of a car supporting and tilting cradle mounted to rock in its vertical longitudinal plane and tilt transversely thereof and adapted to support a railway box car supporting at each end a standard D type coupler, a primary clamp supporting frame, having at one end upright clamp supporting members, movably mounted in said cradle near each of its ends, draft means for simultaneously moving said frames toward and from each other, a second frame including a horizontal portion and a downwardly extending portion, means pivotally connecting the junction of the horizontal and downwardly extending portions of said second frame to the other end of the primary frame with the free end of the second frame terminating near the upright clamp support, a clamp head supported by the upper end of said upright clamp supporting members including a vertical contact face adapted to engage the free end of a corresponding coupler element, a transverse beam mounted to slide vertically on said upright supports toward and from the upper surface of a car coupler, a hold-down element mounted to move vertically toward and from said beam and mounted to permit limited universal tilting movement, means operatively connecting the free ends of the horizontal portion of said second frame to said beam, means operatively connecting said draft means to the lower ends of said downwardly extending portions of said second frame, and yieldable means carried by the primary frame for maintaining the movable end of the second frame in an elevated position.

6. The combination of a car supporting and tilting cradle mounted to rock in its vertical longitudinal plane and tilt transversely thereof and adapted to support a railway box car supporting at each end a standard D type coupler, a clamp element movably mounted on each end of said cradle to move toward and from said coupler elements to engage their free ends, draft means for moving said clamps toward said couplers, a clamp head on the upper end of each clamp element having a contact face, one edge of said face terminating in an outwardly inclined flange to provide means for moving the coupler elements transversely to their limit of movements as the clamp heads are moved toward them, with the free end of the coupler against said contact face, a coupler holddown element, means for yieldably and normally supporting the hold-down element above the coupler when engaged by said clamp head, and means operatively connecting said hold-down element to said draft means for imparting a portion of the force required to lock the clamp heads to their respective coupler elements to said hold-down element, to prevent transverse tilting of the car relative to said cradle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

